


Warden's Path

by Mayaiai



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Inqusitor is the Warden, Story Divergent in later chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-05-20
Packaged: 2018-06-09 01:12:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6883015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mayaiai/pseuds/Mayaiai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eloren Mahariel was only freaking out a tiny bit.</p>
<p>A tiny small bit.</p>
<p>Teeny weeny bit freaking out. </p>
<p>Alright, she was very freaked out. She was in a cell, with people pointing swords at her, and horrible pain shot through her hand where a bright green mark spread over her palm.</p>
<p>So, she supposed, she had a right to be freaked out. </p>
<p>Especially since she couldn't remember how she got here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm speeding through the beginning parts of Inquisition, because it's mainly the same as the game. I hope you enjoy!

Eloren Mahariel was only freaking out a tiny bit.

A tiny small bit.

Teeny weeny bit freaking out.   
  
Alright, she was very freaked out. She was in a cell, with people pointing swords at her, and horrible pain shot through her hand where a bright green mark spread over her palm.   
  
So, she supposed, she had a right to be freaked out.   
  
Especially since she couldn't remember how she got here.   
  
The door burst open, an angry woman charging through, and another hooded figure close behind. "Tell me why we shouldn't kill you now!" the woman demanded. "The conclave is destroyed - everyone who attended is dead!"    
  
Wait - what? What conclave? What?   
  
Before Eloren could devise an answer, the woman grabbed her hand. "What is this?"   
  
The sharp movement shot pain all through her arm. Through gritted teeth, she forced out a pained and angry. "I don't know!"

She barely recognised her voice. It was rough, but still hers. It sounded like she had swallowed several knives.   
  
"What do you mean, you don't know?"   
  
Alright, that was it. She'd had enough of this interrogation where she knew absolutly nothing that was going on.   
  
"It means, _I don't know_ as in **_I don't know_**!" Eloren hissed.   
  
"The Divine is dead! Because of you!"   
  
The Divine was dead? Eloren cared nothing at all for Shem religion, but she knew enough to know that if the Divine was dead, and she was being accused of it...   
  
Well, she needed a way out of here fast.   
  
"That's enough, Cassandra. We still need her."   
  
The accent, the voice, it made Eloren freeze. 

" _Leliana_?"   
  
There was surprise from both women. The hooded woman looked closer at Eloren.   
  
Then Leliana's eyes widened. "Eloren! You look so different!"   
  
Cassandra looked between Eloren and Leliana's with confusion. "This is the Hero?" Cassandra asked. "She looks nothing like you described."   
  
Eloren blinked. She hadn't changed her look that drastically. "Lils, what's going on? Why am I here? Where even am I?"   
  
Leliana frowned, and bleeped down confront of Eloren. "What's the last thing you remember?"   
  
Eloren frowned. "I... was at Weisthuppt? Wait no - I was running." She blinked at the sudden fracture of a memory. "There were things - Ghouls? Maybe? - chasing me. And... A woman?"   
  
Leliana and Cassandra shared a look, but then Leliana unlocked the shackles on Mahariel's arm. "Eloren, you haven't been at Weiahuppt for years. I've been trying to track you down. My contacts would have told me if you'd been there."   
  
Eloren gently rubbed her wrists where the shackles had been. "No. I was there. I was talking with the First Warden. About... something?"   
  
She couldn't remember. Everything was a blank. She rubbed at her head.   
  
"Eloren, that was five years ago," Leliana shook her head. "You've been missing for that long."   
  
Mahariel stared at her. Cassandra frowned, and looked at Leliana. "Are you sure about this?"   
  
Leliana nodded her head.   
  
Cassandra sighed. "Go to the forward camp, Leliana. We'll meet you there."   
  
Eloren slowly climbed to her feet, and stared at the green Mark on her hand. She glanced up at the two women. "What happened?"   
  
"It will be easier to show you." Cassandra said, as Leliana left the room, with one last glace at the elf.   
  
Cassandra held out some rope. "I must tie this around your wrists."   
  
An expression of disapproval appeared on the Hero's face, but she held her hands out anyway. The rope was tied roughly around her wrists, and she was led outside.   
  
Her eyes immediately met the bright green hole in the sky, the same ccolour as the mark on her hand. Huh.   
  
"We call it the breach." Cassandra told her. "It's a massive rift into the world of demons that grows larger with each passing hour."   
  
Eloren blinked. Damn demons.   
  
"It's not the only such rift, just the largest. All were caused by the explosion at the conclave."   
  
"What kind of explosion can rip a hole into the Beyond?"   
  
"I do not know. Unless we act, the breach may grow until it swallows the world."   
  
The Breach flared out, part of it growing larger, making the mark on her hand flare with pain. Eloren let out a scream as she dropped to the ground. She clenched her hand in a fist, as the pain slowly dulled.

“Each time the Breach spreads, so does the mark on your hand. It is killing you. It may be the key to stopping this, but there isn’t much time.”

Eloren took on a breath of air, and slowly let it out with the pain. “I didn't save everyone from the blight, to let them die from… well, this.”

Cassandra nodded her head and led her through the crowds of furious villagers.

 

 

 

 

She pulled her dagger out of the demon and watched as it failed into dust. She looked at the blade of the dagger, and blinked several times.

“Put those down.” Cassandra said, a warning note in her voice.

Eloren dropped one, it clattering to the snowy ground and held the blade with both hands, ad just stared at it.

Or rather, her reflection.

Her shoulder length blond hair was cut short around her chin, and now dark black. Her Vallasliin was no longer the soft green lines of Mythals trees, but the dark red lines of Andruils arrows. The straight lines sharpened her features, making her face look very angular.

Not like her.

“ _ What? _ ” She breathed. She looked up at the wary and slightly concerned Cassandra.

“Do you think I did it? Destroy the Temple of Sacred Ashes? Kill your Divine?”

_ And why, why, was I trying to hide who I was? _

Cassandra hesitated. “I do not know. Before I knew you were the Hero of Fereldan, yes. I thought it was you. Now? Perhaps. Perhaps not. The fact remains that you are our only suspect.”

Mahariel frowned but nodded her head slightly.

“Pick up the blade. You will need those weapons. We have a dangerous walk ahead of us.”

 

 

 

Eloren yanked her hand out of the other elfs, and rubbed it, easing the pain that flared from closing the rift. 

She listened to the elf, the dwarf and the Seeker talk. 

“I'm Solas, if there are to be any introductions.” The elf offered, and the dwarf was Varric (the name sounded familiar…).

“I'm -” she paused for a second. She'd gone to considerable lengths to hide who she was, even covering up her vallaslin. Maybe she had been hiding who she was for a reason. “Velanna.”

“Pleasure.” Solas tilted his head at her.

 

 

 

 

She chose the mountain path. The lives of the scouts were more important to her.

And she was not a stranger to the Haven mountains, even if they had changed.

They got through the mountains quickly, saved the scouts, closed the rift and got to the.destroyed.temple.

“This is where they found you.” Cassandra said, glancing at the elf for a moment. Eloren’s eyes shot between each person, burnt and still standing.

“Thank goodness, you made it!”

Leliana's arrival gave Eloren a distraction, looking towards her friend as she spoke.

But it was only a quick one.

She had hid who she was, lost the last five years of her memory, and was the sole survivor of an explosion that killed thousands. 

What if she had done this?

“Are you ready?” 

She nodded her head.

 

 

 

 The voices vibrated throughout the room, of a deep voice she couldn't recognise, and the voice of a woman that Cassandra identified as the Divine. Then came a third voice, her own voice, firm and commanding.

“ **Let her go! Now!”**

“ **Kill the elf.”**

 

 

 

 

 

 

Her head was killing her. Ugh.

She opened her eyes and Sat up, startling a young elf holdings a crate, that immediately started bowing.

“Please don't do that.” she said softly.   
  


She got dressed and started heading to the chantry. Whispers followed her, along with stares.

Herald of Andraste, they called her.

The former residents of this village would say she killed Andraste. 

Did they even know who she was? Had Leliana and Cassandra told them that the elf who was accused of the highest count of terrorism, and was now they were claiming was a Herald, for a belief that wasn't hers, was really the Hero and Warden-Commander of Fereldan?

  
For some reason, she _really_ hoped not.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You were hiding who you are.” Leliana nodded her head. “And there could be a very good reason for that.”
> 
> Eloren nodded her head. “And whatever I was doing that required this, then maybe it wouldn’t be a good idea to announce the Hero of Ferelden is helping the Inquisition.”

Cassandra and Leliana formed the Inquisition, and asked her for her help.

She looked straight at her friend while she answered. “Of course I’ll help you, Leliana.” After all, fixing things seemed to be her thing in life. And, she still had a bad feeling about that conclave. “But there’s the small issue of this.”

She pointed at her face.

“You were hiding who you are.” Leliana nodded her head. “And there could be a very good reason for that.”

Eloren nodded her head. “And whatever I was doing that required  _ this _ , then maybe it wouldn’t be a good idea to announce the Hero of Ferelden is helping the Inquisition.”

Cassandra frowned. “You may have a point,” she said. “So we make you out to be someone else? You already told Varric and Solas your name was Velanna.”

Eloren walked over to a mirror on the wall, and looked at herself again. “Yeah,” she gently brushed black strands of hair over her face. “What was I doing?”

“I can put some feelers out, see if we can track your past movements.” Leliana offered.

Eloren turned around and looked at her, and nodded her head. “That would be great, thanks."

 

 

 

The Inquisition was formed, and Advisors were brought in. Eloren had been surprised to see Templar Cullen, but was happy to see he had made a recovery from Kinloch Hold. And an Antivan by the name of Josephine.

“Andaran atish’an.”

The woman’s accent as she spoke Elvhen reminded her of Zevran’s accent.

“Saluti.” Eloren offered in response.

“You speak Antivan?”

Eloren shrugged. “Conosco un po'. Un amico mi stava insegnando .”

Josephine smiled.

They told Cullen and Josephine the truth about her. It would do no good lying to the advisors, and Josephine would be able to help with tracking down her movements. Cullen was surprised.

“I don’t even recognise you,” he said.

“I don’t even recognise myself – how could you? You only saw me for a moment, ten years ago.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


The Grey Wardens were missing.

Eloren could understand Leliana’s concern. She felt it herself.

“All of them?”

“All of the Ferelden and Orleasian ones. I have not received back from the Anderfels.” Leliana said.

“Even my Wardens?” Eloren asked, frowning deeply.

Leliana nodded her head. “Yes. Well, Nathanial and Anders were in the Free Marches for a time. Anders is on the run, but I do not know about Nathanial. I could make inquiries.”

“Yes, please.” Eloren said, “and I’ll check out the Hinterlands for Blackwall.”

The Elf turned to leave, but paused. “I’m sorry – did you say Anders is on the run?”

A flash of surprise appeared on Leliana’s face. “Oh, yes. You would not know. Anders blew up the

Chantry in Kirkwall.”

Eloren blinked.

“Huh.”

Go big or go home, that was the style of the Anderfels.   
  


 

 

 

 

Mahariel was fairly certain that Blackwall wasn’t a Warden. She could sense Wardens, and she couldn’t sense him. But either way, she still let him join the Inquisition. They needed a Warden representative, and Blackwall was the closest thing she could get to that.

And with him a figure of the Inquisition, they could use some of her Warden agreements to get more help for the inquisition.   
  


 

 

 

“Velanna.” Leliana said, walking up to Eloren as she was talking with Solas.

His view of the Beyond was, well, interesting. She knew that there were good spirits, obviously. (Wynne, for one, had a spirit of Faith. They were good) But she’d still had bad experiences with the Fade, which made her slightly dubious when it came to going there voluntarily in nap time.

“Yeah, Leliana?” Eloren asked, turning to look at her friend.

“There’s someone here for you to meet.”

Eloren bid her farewells to Solas, and followed the Spymaster past the Tavern (where she heard Sera singing some tavern song loudly. Sera reminded her a lot of Tabris, except with more ‘shooting things’ than ‘stabbing with really big sword.’

They exited Haven and just went to the edge of the forest. There, a lone figure was waiting, looking rather nervous and unsure. An elf, a female Dalish.

“This is Lavellan,” Leliana introduced. “You two travelled together to the Conclave.”

Lavellan looked at Eloren with a frown. “She told me you do not remember?”

Eloren nodded her head. “I don’t remember anything of the past five years. I travelled with you to the Conclave? Did I say anything about why I was going there?”

Lavellan hesitated, glancing at Leliana for a moment.

“It’s alright. She’s a friend to the Dalish. And to me.”

“Alright,” Lavellan said softly. “When  we got closer to the Conclave, you warned me not to go.”

“I did?” Mahariel asked, glancing at Leliana for a moment.

“Start from the beginning.”

Lavellan nodded her head. “Yes. I was sent to spy on the Conclave by my clan. My Keeper knew that this Conclave would affect everyone, not just the Shemlen. We met at a small village, I’m not sure the name. We found that our direction were the same, so we travelled together. I told you about my Clan, and you told me about yours.”

“What did I say?” Mahariel interrupted for a moment.

“You said you were Clan Sabre, and left your clan for a while. You asked if my Clan had run into yours at all in the Free Marches. I said no but…” Lavellan hesitated.

“What?”

“We had heard of your clan. There was a dangerous mage in it, we were warned about. The Mage left the Clan though, but they stayed camped around Kirkwall for years.”

“Dangerous mage?”

“A Blood Mage. The First.”

“Merrill.” Mahariel sighed. “Oh,  _ Merrill. _ ”

Lavellan smiled slightly. “That was your exact reaction.”

“Yeah,” Mahariel sighed. “Anyway, what happened after that?”

“We got closer to the Conclave, but you stopped one night and looked at me. You told me that something was going to happen at the Conclave, and you were going to try and stop it. You said that if you failed, then you would die, and possibly the entire Conclave would. You told me not to go, to wait it out.”

“And you did.”

Lavellan nodded her head. “And I’m glad I did.” The elf turned and looked up at the Breach.

“So I was trying to stop the explosion? How did I know it was going to happen?” Mahariel wondered. “Did I say anything else?”

Lavellan nodded her head. “You gave me a letter. Asked me if you failed to send it.”

“Did you send it? Who was it for?”

“I did, and it was for someone named ‘Zevran’ And it was in Antivan.”

Mahariel straightened up. “Do you know the address? Can you remember where it was sent?”

“Maybe? Probably.” Lavellan said.

“Please, come back to Haven with us. See if you can write down the address. Or if you remember anything else.”

Lavellan hesitated for only a second. “Alright,” she agreed. “Since you saved my life, Sabre, of course I’ll help.”

Mahariel smiled softly. “Call me Velanna. Velanna Sabre.”

 

Well, at least one of those names was partially hers. 


End file.
